Petitioner Wants Court To Declare Agriculture PS, AFA Director General and 3 Others Unfit To Hold Office

An Application has been filed at the Employment and Labour relations Court in Nairobi seeking the declaration that that the Principal Secretary for Agriculture, the Director General of the Agricultural Food Authority alongside other officials from the Public Service Commission are unfit to hold Public office and be punished for contempt after they disregarded a court order that temporarily stops the restructuring of the Agricultural Food Authority.

In Court papers in our possesion the Applicant alleges that the planned restructuring is being conducted despite the Court order temporarily stopping the Ministry of Agriculture, Public Service Commission, the AFA and the State Corporations Advisory Committee from doing so.

Those sued for contempt of Court include; Dr. Bruno Linyiru, Imelda Koskei, Wambua Muse, Dr.Paul Ronoh and Emma Wairimu.

The petitioner has also told the labour court that the rule of law, adjudicator Authority and Sanctity of the court and its jurisdiction was being ridicule and and was under attack.

“The Rule of Law, adjudicatory authority and the sanctity of the Honourable Court, and indeed the Judiciary of the Republic of Kenya is being put to great ridicule and is under attack!…Disrespect to, disregard of, brazen ridicule and contempt of the Orders of Courts by Public officers, Civil Servants and Agents of Public institutions within the Republic of Kenya is a growing menace, that brews anarchy, especially orchestrated by persons who should otherwise preserve and respect the Rule of law.” Stated the Court papers

The suit had come up in Court on 27 May 2024 when Justice Byram Ongaya had granted an order stopping the Respondents’ restructuring plan.

” The first respondent(AFA) organization structure , grading and establishment policy for agriculture and Food Authority April,2024 and the PS proceeded with the preparation and organisation structuring of the AFA devoid of any public participation and with total and disregard to the proceedings of this court and provisions of law and envisage under section 11 of AFA act hence countermanding the order of the court and bestowing upon themselves Authority equivalent of the hounarable court,” the court papers say.

The told the court further to bring the PS, the respondents and their agent to book for the judicial structures to be respected.

The Petitioner, a Pyrethrum farmer states that Section 11 of the Agriculture and Food Authority Act, 2013 prescribes the organisational structure of the Agriculture and Food Authority, specifically by Directorates to include a Directorate of Food Production and that each Directorate has to have autonomy as to enable it to discharge its professional mandate to enable the Republic of Kenya meet the relevant international obligations especially with respect to standards.

The AFA as structured, has 7 directorates for different sectors including the Nuts And Oil Crops, Coffee, Food Crops, Sugar, Miraa Pyrethrum and Other industrial crops, fibre crops and Horticultural Crops whose officers have also been included in the case as Interested Parties.

The Petitioners argue that the Government seeks to restructure AFA by eliminating these directorates. The Public Service Commission has supported the case by stating that the restructure of a State Corporation without the input of PSC is illegal, null and void.